Agency Employees Deliver Holiday Cheer to Homeless Teens

Snohomish County, Wash. – Eighty-four high school students without a legal guardian or a stable place to stay over the winter break received a small dose of holiday cheer this week.

Hygiene kits, warm clothing, gift cards and other presents were purchased by employees of Community Transit and the Everett Community Service Office of the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) as part of their Giving Tree programs. The employees took tags from office “giving trees,” purchased the items listed on the tag, then donated them to the program.

Community Transit volunteers gathered the purchases, wrapped gifts, and packed it all into 84 backpacks that were then delivered to four high schools in Everett and Mill Creek to be distributed to students in Everett Public Schools’ Kids in Transition program.

Kids in Transition supports several hundred homeless students and their families; backpacks went to the 84 teens known to be “unaccompanied,” or not in the custody of a legal guardian. The winter break from school is a particularly tough time for these students because a part of their life that offers safety and stability gets disrupted just as the weather gets especially cold.

Backpacks were donated by the IBI Group and sweatshirts were donated by the Everett Silvertips organization; all other items were voluntarily purchased by employees of DSHS and Community Transit.

Community Transit is responsible for providing bus and paratransit service, vanpool andalternative commute options in Snohomish County. The agency is building a network of Swift bus rapid transit lines with Swift Blue Line along Highway 99 and the Swift Green Line between Canyon Park/Bothell and Boeing/Paine Field coming in 2019.